Busy, Busy, Busy....

I know I have been neglecting my blog lately!  Things have been extremely busy the past couple weeks.  What with Valentines Day and several quilt projects I find it easy to pass by the computer day after day.  But I will catch you up on what we have been up to.

Valentines Day was fun!  We have a tradition to go and stay in a little cabin up in Island Park.  It is a great way to break up the monotony of winter time.  Yes there is more snow up there but at least we are out of the house and adventuring!  My camera has died so I don't have pictures but the cabin was cozy and comfortable.  It even had a hot tub on the deck.  I've never been hot tubing in the winter so that was a first for me!

Burley got his first real hair cut.  I sat there and watched as all of his beautiful brown hair was shaved off.  I was very nervous to see what he would look like after and I hate to admit it, but I was scared he wouldn't be cute without his long locks.  However I was very pleased to see that he was still Burley and still extremely adorable. 

He did so well sitting there for about an hour and a half while he was groomed.  He had a lot of hair! 

My quilting projects have been coming right along!   I love working on them and probably spend time sewing just about everyday.  Here are some pictures.

The pictures don't do them justice!  The colors are way better in person.  But all I have is my cell phone camera, sorry.

These are all for the quilt I am making for my Mom.  The top two were just my favorite squares out of the 42 squares I made.  It is a Stack-n-Whack quilt so ever square turns out different.  The bottom picture is the sashing and corner squares.  The golden yellow color matches perfectly with the fancy wall my Sister and Dad painted.  I will have to get a picture of the room with the quilt and the wall when I'm finished.  I am starting to assemble the quilt top! Yay! so I will post some pictures when I get it going.

The crib set for Rachel:

This is the quilt top.

One of the bumpers in progress.

A close up on the bumper.

The cute little stars I had a blast making! : ) These go on the bumper and the duster.

Now that I have stuff actually put together I thought I could show this off.  When you have a stack of fabrics there isn't much to show : ).  I still have to finish the bumpers, quilt the quilt, and start the duster.  It is coming along nicely though!  When it is all done I will post a picture of it in the crib (which by the way is beautiful!).

I bought some Christmas fabric on sale to make a log cabin quilt! No I have not started it and I won't till I get these finished.  But I am super excited for it!

So as you can see this is what has been keeping me so very busy.  On top of this, I find time to teach piano, clean my house, and cook the food.  I guess I am not happy unless I'm busy, since I always seem to be busy.  At least I choose to be busy right?  

Jessica vs. Snow, Ice, and Car Doors

The battle took place last Saturday night, around 10:00 pm.  Jessica and Doug were spending the evening visiting with Doug's parents.  They enjoyed watching the movie 'UP' and snuggling in a blanket to get warm.  They had no idea of what would be coming.  As the night wore on they began to get tired and decided it was time to go home.  They gathered their belongings and, of course, Burley and headed out into the bitter cold.

They made it successfully to their car and down the street before Jessica realized she had forgotten her cell phone.  She reports, "I remember thinking, 'Well we could just get it tomorrow,' but we use my phone as our alarm clock.  And we couldn't miss church.  So I told Doug we would just have to go back and get it."  Which is exactly what they did.  They turned around, pulled into the driveway and Jessica ran into the house.

She recovered the cell phone quite easily.  After saying 'Goodnight' to Doug's parents once more, she headed back out into the night.  The battle began as she slid halfway down the driveway and had to steady herself on the car.  After opening the car door she thought she was home free!  Thats when things started happening too fast.  As she shifted her weight, she went down hard.  With no time to catch herself, she went straight for the edge of the car window.  She then whacked her eye on it, bounced off and slid the rest of the way down the driveway.

Needless to say, the battle was won and not by Jessica.  "It was those darn shoes!" says Jessica.  "If I had been wearing any other shoes I would have been fine.  But no I had to wear the easy slip ons with the smooth bottoms.  The tread on them is almost nonexistent."

The traitor shoes!  They helped the snow and ice drop Jessica in an instant.

So the conclusion that we have com to:  A rematch.  Next time the battle field must be evened out.  No more slick shoes.  For now Jessica is recovering from a pretty beautiful black eye.  It has turned some marvelous colors that we didn't know even existed.  Jessica is now able to laugh at herself, "I guess it is kind of a funny story.  And I will always remember my first black eye."  Stay tuned for reports on the next Battle:  Jessica vs. Snow and Ice.  Who knows she may come home with another black eye.....or worse.

The day after.  Some fairly pretty colors going on.  It was very swollen although its kind of hard to tell in the picture.

Nearly a week after.  The bruises are now fading to green and yellow.  Although it looks like the plum purple color is sticking around for another week.

Thinking of Those Who Have Passed.

Just in the last couple of days I have been told of several people who have passed on suddenly.  The circumstances of all of them have left families who love them and will miss them terribly.  It has hurt my heart to think of those families without their loved ones.  I have reminded myself often of the Plan of Salvation and Heavenly Father's constant involvement in our lives.  With this knowledge it seems a little easier to understand how such wonderful people can be taken from us.  Easier to understand yes, but it still is hard.

Our home teacher came by yesterday and shared the message with us.  It was 'Hold On a Little Longer'.  Just when it seems that things can't possibly get worse we have to remember to endure faithfully.  Hold on for just a little while longer and the trials will pass,  we will find the happiness we seek.  I couldn't help thinking of the Davis family all throughout his message.  I hope that they can hold on a little longer.  Our prayers are with them and all those who have lost their loved ones recently.  We hope they will find the love and peace that our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have to offer. The gospel is such a blessing simply because of the knowledge it gives us.  We are truly grateful for it in our lives!